duhi Loc: Rochester, NY

I'm in the process of setting up to digitize about 50 years of photos, slides, Etc. Looking for best method to be able to catalog and store these for instant retrieval when needed.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I use Smugmug. It lets you put "virtual" copies of photos in additional folders by using "collect" instead of "move". This lets you develop a folder system for every category you may want and put copies of each photo in as many folders that are applicable. Furthermore, you can check properties of a virtual copy and see which folder the real copy is in. I have folders within folders, within folders.

If you want this feature, you need to either develop a complex relational database application, or use something available.

jscorbin Loc: Woodinville, WA

To me, "catalog and store these for instant retrieval" says Lightroom. The cataloging, keywording, and collections for "instant retrieval" is state-of-the-art. It'll cost you about $10/month.

Digitizing can be done several ways, probably easiest is an Epson scanner. Using a DSLR with a macro lens and copy stand or device in my experience is more time-consuming. Similarly with a dedicated film/slide scanner, which can't deal with prints.

Finally, all of that work will need backup. Lots of discussion on that in the UHH forum --as on all of these topics. Backup should be a combination of local and offsite hard drives, plus maybe a well-known cloud service if you're really concerned about safety.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I am also interested in the best method for that. Looking forward to the replies.

Please post Her what System you end up with.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

If you don't feel good about buying Lightroom Classic, there is Adobe Bridge. It's free and has some enhanced cataloging features.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have the family photos cataloged in Lightroom. But since I'm the only one in my family that knows how to use Lightroom, I also have a secondary organization by folders. The secondary organization is just placing the images in folders labeled by year. I have folders from 1822 to 2020. (Photography really dates from the 1830s and wasn't widely used until the 1860s so the earlier years are photos of papers such as newspapers, wills, letters, and things like that. My earliest family photo is from around 1866). Within a year I have subfolders for different branches of the family.

Of course many photos that are passed down within a family have minimal documentation. Sometimes something is written on the back. Useful if it's not pasted into a photo album. For my family, I have to estimate the year of capture by estimating ages and having a genealogy handy, or by trying to identify the event.

This is all on a Win10 system and File Explorer can handle tags added to jpgs. You can even search on the tags or edit them. I would expect a Mac to have similar capabilities but since I'm not a Mac guy I can't state that definitively. At any rate, the tags are metadata and not everyone knows what to do with metadata. Wherever I feel it's important, I add annotation to photos so future generations will know who is whom. There are several different ways to annotate a photo. Probably the best way is to add white space to one edge (I usually place it on the bottom edge) and add text on that white space. Sometimes group shots require other techniques for clarity.

I started to put together a set of tutorials for adding documentation. They are a work in progress, but you might get some ideas from them.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2967 Add Documentation to photos using Photoshop
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2969 Add Documentation to photos using Windows Paint (Sorry I don't have anything for you Mac people)
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2968 Adding Identification to Group Photos
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2971 Convert group photo to outline using FastStone
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2970 Convert group photo to outline using IrfanView
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2973 Convert Group Photo to Outline using ImageMagick (incomplete)
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=2972 Convert group photo to outline using Photoshop (incomplete)

PS: If you are intending to pass your photos down to future generations, you might seriously consider changing the file names to give some indication of who, what, where, when, why, even if you don't annotate the photos.

PPS: The subject of image format has been discussed elsewhere. Some people feel that photos for archival purposes should be saved as a tif or png since jpg involves a lossy compression. Personally, I feel that a jpg is fine for archiving old photos since (1) the condition of the old photo is frequently not pristine, so jpg artifacts are not important; (2) jpgs can be saved at low compression to minimize artifacts; (3) jpg is a widely accepted standard format for images; and (4) most distribution of archival photos is via copying, which does not produce additional artifacts to a jpg.

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

Smug Mug is Only way to go IMHO

rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

The best software available for photo cataloging and instant retrieval is ON1. It does everything Lightroom does, but is much simpler to use. Added benefits are excellent photo processing - and no monthly charge!

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I store mine according to subject: Cars > Mine > Antique > Car Shows, etc.

There are many cataloging programs available, both free and not free. The problem is that none of them is automatic.

https://www.google.com/search?q=photo+cataloging+software&oq=photo+cataloging+software&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.6575j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I use the Organizer in PS Elements to do that. Instead of the date scanned for a photo you can edit to the date the old photo was taken.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The first replies will no doubt be 'check out Lightroom'. I'd suggest a decent document management application. This provides a database that will even allow you to have thumbnails for visual reference. There are some very good DMS applications that are free.
--Bob

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

"It does everything Lightroom does"

It might compare to maybe Lightroom 4 or 5, but the subscription now has five different Lightrooms with interconnections, including a link to an online gallery.

YollieNW

You should consider iMatch. What I like about iMatch is that it manages your files WHERE THEY ARE, without requiring that you move your files or change your file organization. And Mario, the developer of the software, is always available to answer questions and provide help. I've been using iMatch for years, and I heartily endorse it. It's affordable too. You don't have to pay a monthly fee.
https://www.photools.com/

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

But Lightroom manages your files WHERE THEY ARE without requiring that you move your files or change your file organization.

And it plays well with Photoshop.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

I want my photos in my control. Putting them on the web in the Cloud or any other place makes them accessible to others and always under the possibility of total loss.
I scan my photos and catalog with Lightroom. Once scanned and identified I make multiple copies on multi-terabyte external drives.